Sigma Xi 2017 Presentation Winners

Sigma Xi 2017 Presentation Winners

Oral Presentations

Biology I

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Constructing Variants of Human Serum Albumin Reconstituted with Heme and Testing For Nitrite Reductase Activity
AlexandraAlfonso Castro (Dr. Mary GraceGalinato), Penn State Behrend
Runner Up / Effects of inhaled CO2 on seizures in the febrile seizure mouse model Mus musculus
DanielDaugherty (LeeCoates), Allegheny College

Biology II

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans) Tadpole: Ontogenetic Shifts of Food Preference, Foraging Behavior, and their Effect on Detritus Breakdown
RachaelFinigan (ScottWissinger), Allegheny College
Runner Up / Analysis of Genetic Diversity in the Pennsylvania State Population of white-tailed deer (Odocoileusvirginianus) 110 years after Bottleneck and Translocation
Michael Arcieri (Dr. Kristen Webb), Allegheny College

Biology III

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Genetic Analysis of Cytochrome b and Cytochrome c Oxidase Subunit III Genes of Cytauxzoon felis in Domestic Cats (Felis catus) from Georgia
MeganRodrigues (KristenWebb), Allegheny College
Runner Up / Targocil, a Wall Teichoic Acid Synthesis Inhibitor, Activates the DesK-DesR Two-Component System of Bacillus anthracis
AlexMetzger (DevinStauff), Grove City College

Chemistry

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Electrochemical Investigation of Human Serum Albumin-Heme Enzyme with Proximal Tyrosine to Evaluate its Conversion of Nitrite to Nitric Oxide
GaryFye (JasonBennett, Mary GraceGalinato) Penn State Behrend
Runner Up / Thermodynamic and Structural Impact of α,α-Dialkylated Residue Incorporation in a β-Hairpin Peptide
ShelbySchettler, GabrielleGette (GeorgeLengyel), Slippery Rock University

Computer Science

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Monte Carlo Price Forecasting and Portfolio Optimization
GarrettAshbaugh (DavidShaffer), Westminster College
Runner Up / A Comprehensive Security Assessment of the Westminster College Unix Lab
JacobShodd (DavidShaffer), Westminster College

Computer Science, Economics, and Engineering

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Crime Rates and Income in Erie, PA
NatalieSzalajko (KenLouie), Penn State Behrend
Runner Up / Data Mining for Chronic Kidney Disease Prediction
RyanMarkle (FaisalAqlan), Penn State Behrend

Engineering I

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Design and Development of a Battery Internal Short Circuit Test Machine
MaryBurbules and ScottDeLaney (AdamHollinger), Penn State Behrend
Runner Up / Effects of Polarity and Current Path in Electrically Assisted Single Point Incremental Forming of 2024-T3 Aluminum
TylerGrimm (JohnRoth and IhabRagai), Penn State Behrend

Engineering II

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Experimental Investigation of Bend-Unbend Mechanics in the Tube Flaring Process
BradleyPier (ChetanNikhare), Penn State Behrend
Runner Up / SEM Characterization of Carbides in Low Temperature Tempered (LTT) Advanced High-Strength Low- Alloy (HSLA) Steels
TylerRigby (PaulLynch), Penn State Behrend

Environmental Science

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Presence of Agricultural Herbicide Atrazine in Water, Foods, and Human Urine Samples
AnthonyConcilla (HeLiu), Gannon University
Runner Up / Varying Reflective Materials for Low Cost, Organic Light Concentrating in Flexible, Photovoltaic Devices
MelissaMcCann (IanCarbone), Allegheny College

Mathematics

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Improved Bounds on a Variation on the Classical Waring's Problem
PaulLeVan (DavidPrier), Gannon University
Runner Up / Heroin Epidemic Modeling with PDE's
JamesRichardson and AllisonTorsey (SaziyeBayram), Buffalo State College

Psychology

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Examining the Effectiveness of the Captain McFinn Anti-Bullying Program among Erie Elementary Schools
TaylorMorris, ChelseaPtak, ChristinaMurzynski, and RebeccaDinsmore (CharisseNixon and JamesHodge), Penn State Behrend
Runner Up / Vicarious Embarrassment and Reluctant Student Participation in Classrooms
EmilyGaleza (CarolWilson, VictoriaKazmerski), Penn State Behrend

Poster Presentations

Biology I

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Effects of prenatal nicotine and caffeine exposure on the respiratory response to hypercapnia in neonatal mice: a possible link to SIDS
JasmineNguyen (LeeCoates), Allegheny College
Runner Up / Determining the Prevalence of Borellia burgdorferi in Ixodes scapularis in Presque Isle State Park
RobertWood (SaraTurner), Mercyhurst University

Biology II

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Early Campanian Elasmobranch Assemblage from North Carolina with Paleoecological and Paleobiogeographical Implications
TaylorKightlinger and Gerard R. Case (ToddCook), Penn State Behrend
Runner Up / TempPoster Variation of the Amphibian Fungal Pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Northwest Pennsylvania
LoganBillet, CarissaLange, and BryceOlson (MatthewVenesky), Allegheny College

Biology III and IV

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Complementary Genetic Screens Reveal Inactivating and Constitutively Activating Mutations in Two-Component Systems of Bacillus anthracis
MichelleChu, and EllenUpton (DevinStauff), Grove City College
Runner Up / Population Frequency of Group 1 Pilin Producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Environmental Isolates
SamanthaRunser (TaraAllison), Gannon University

Biology V

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / 17-B Estradiol Attenuates Inflammatory Mediators in Rats after Traumatic Brain Injury
OliviaDack (JeffreyCross), Allegheny College
Runner Up / Effects of Glial and Apoptosis Inhibitors in a Modified Controlled Cortical Impact (CCI) Model in Juvenile Male Rats
ColleenBodnar (JeffCross and JeffHollerman), Allegheny College

Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Increasing the Area of a White Diffusive Background can Increase the Power Output of a Luminescent Solar Concentrator
JonathonSchrecengost (BruceWittmershaus), Penn State Behrend
Runner Up / Investigating a Conjecture about Integrals from Probability Theory
BridgetTorsey (PeterMercer), SUNY Buffalo State

Computer Science & Engineering I

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Solar Eclipse High Altitude Balloon System
KaitlynBabiarz, MaiaMacKellar, DonovanStarks, StephenKarpinsky, AlejandroFerrero, TengerBatjargal, LaurenReilly, CarterMiller, Jessica Moukoro, and KangxuWang (WookwonLee, NicholasConklin), Gannon University
Runner Up / Acoustic Noise Emission Data Collection for quenching process
SamanthaMuhhuku (ChetanNikhare, David Loker, and IhabRagai), Penn State Behrend

Engineering II

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Characterization of Advanced High Strength, Cost Effective Steels
TylerRigby, DanSmith, and JosephHelbling (PaulLynch), Penn State Behrend
Runner Up / Determining Material Properties of Nanotube Filament
NoahShinn, AdamGiovanelli, and PatrickCampoli (KrishnaMukherjee), Slippery Rock University

Environmental Science

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Assessing Monthly Changes to the Degradation of Terrestrially Derived Dissolved Organic Carbon in a Temperate Lake
SarahMagyan (ChristopherDempsey), Gannon University
Runner Up / Assessing Penn State Behrend stream health through analysis of leaf decomposition
Emily MBrown, and Megan MPalko (Dr. PamelaSilver), Penn State Behrend

Psychology I

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Visual and Auditory Neural Activation for the Multimodal Integration in Visual Word Processing
RebeccaSheley and JamesDickinson (ChristopherMcNorgan), The State University of New York at Buffalo
Runner Up / Comparison of Breathing Techniques and Art Therapy on Stress Reduction
AlyssaTobin, ShelbySeidler, and KaterinaSimon (VictoriaKazmerski), Penn State Behrend

Psychology II

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Money Conflicts Between Romantic Partners
EmmaWalton, LeanneConfer, LeslieHasty, and SkylerFerringer (CarolWilson), Penn State Behrend
Runner Up / Gender Stereotypes in Video Game Characters
AustinKobylinski, KaylaRedd, and BrockMcCullough (VictoriaKazmerski), Penn State Behrend

Psychology III

Placement / Title and Student Presenters
First Place / Playing Your Way to Success: Mental Mapping Using Pokémon Go
JacobBenedict, GraceWaldfogle, KameronLanders, MasonMcGuire, and TiffanyEichler (DawnBlasko and HeatherLum), Penn State Behrend
Runner Up / Inhibition of Automatic Spatial Attention Causing Depletion
Hannah Smith and Alexandera Zielinski (Allison Connell Pensky), Allegheny College

Penn State Behrend 26th Annual Sigma Xi Conference – 2017